Today I had an opportunity to visit a local elementary school. This was a regular yet a very special school visit for me, as this was the school that  my own kids attended when we came to Canada. For more than 8 years I have been a member of the Scientists and Innovators in the […]

Today I happened to stumble upon a quote by Elbert Hubbard (1854-1915), who more than 100 years ago commented on the industrialization of the American society. Hubbard said: “One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary Man.” This resonated with what I  saw in […]

A few days ago I had a nightmare. In my dream I had to teach a physics class and I was not only unprepared, but I also couldn’t figure out how to interest the kids in the subject. As the class was in the state of a total mayhem, I spiraled into the state of […]

Today is an International Women’s Day. This day started more than 100 years ago (in 1909). It is a day when women around the world are recognized. The newspapers publish different stats on women’s successes or unresolved issues related to women: women in politics, women in the family, abused women (just remember the rage that […]

Yesterday I had an opportunity to view an amazing movie at an amazing place. The movie is called “Flight of the Butterflies” and the place is the IMax theatre at the Telus World of Science. I was invited to the preview as a member of the Scientists and Innovators in the Schools community – a […]

On March 9th, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and our department – Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy once again will co-host the Physics Olympics. It is a very special event that brings to UBC campus hundreds of grade 11-12 physics students, parents and teachers. This year we have a record number of participating teams […]

Today I received a very special e-mail from a very special woman – Susan Marie Frontczak. I would like to share it with you. Dear Marina Today I celebrated my birthday, and received many good wishes. Many encouraged me to celebrate and a good friend suggested that I “make it a day to remember.”  This preliminary […]

For the past three weeks I have been engaged in exploring different issues of mathematics and science teaching and learning with my teacher-candidates (pre-service mathematics and science teachers). Our group has 21 student-teachers. They chose a topic they wanted to research individually and then had to explore it in more depth and consequently present it […]

Today is my blog day… I haven’t been posting much for the past three weeks as I have been very busy with teaching my daily Inquiry course for mathematics and physics teachers… and have been extremely busy with it. As the course is coming to an end, I have a little bit more time to […]

I have been teaching future mathematics and science secondary teachers for the past four months. This has been a very special opportunity for me. I had a privilege to spend time with people who all had graduated with science and mathematics B.Sc. degrees from our universities and who are motivated and inspired to teach the […]